cheatah, cheatah

Well looky what we have here. Seems Marion Jones has [finally] admitted to taking steroids before her amazing run at the 2000 Olympic games (no pun intended). Who knew? I mean, it's not like there were a million signs or anything. She managed to tip-toe around what is, arguably, the biggest continuous scandal in sports history for seven years and now it has finally caught up to her, because no one can run away for that long; no one is that fast.

But how can you definitively prove that someone is cheating the system when BALCO is out there beating the system and then Victor Conte sits smugly, scoffing and bragging about it. He said repeatedly and maintains today that in the time it takes to create a test for his drugs, he will have created more, which are undetectable and better than the last. The only thing anyone can hope for in that situation is that the athletes have some sort of integrity and conscience. But apparently those qualities only develop after you've won your gold medals. Like, 7 years after.

I know many athletes. I am an athlete, myself. I know many elite athletes and even count myself among their ranks. I know Olympians and champions in many different sports and I know what kind of investment you have to make in yourself to even be considered "good" in your discipline. To brush off your knowledge and awareness of what you are doing to and putting into your body, is the biggest crock of shit ever.

I love the stupid act, though. The "Well, I was just doin' what they told me to do" argument. That carries no weight with me at all. We are not in a cold-war, eastern block country. No one is threatening your family or your life if you don't train in an underground chamber or win gold medals in a governmental effort to prove that democracy is a sham.

Miss Marion maintains that her coach gave it ("The Clear") to her and told her it was flaxseed oil. Suuuure. So my coach "gives" me a substance to take and tells me it's flaxseed oil, but to keep it on the DL. Maybe I even blindly take it at first, not bothering to even read up on what it is that flaxseed oil is said to contribute to a healthy body. Or maybe I did some research and just thought that my flaxseed oil came from special flaxseeds. Hmmmm........ Then, all of a sudden, this flaxseed shit is making me ripped and fast as fuck. But if I really stopped to think about it, perhaps I would wonder why there aren't droves of ripped-ass geriatric folks, since one of the principle functions of flaxseed is "regularity" and is frequently consumed by that demographic.

No matter how you talk around it, there is no way that a large collection of inconsistencies didn't come up in her mind. There is no way that she was married to a guy widely known and later penalized for steroid involvement and had no idea what she was doing to her body. No way that she didn't notice the changes in her skin and her physique that are the negative, outward symptoms of steroid use. Because if flaxseed oil could do all that ripping and shredding in a healthy way, she would have been telling everyone out there, or at least her friends and family, about the benefits of this miracle, over the counter product. But she didn't do that, because she knew what she was messing with and she just wanted her gold medals one way or another.

The thing that pisses me off the most about this, is that I am one of those people to whom sports are sacred. Having the physical ability to do well at a sport in the first place, is a blessing, but it goes well beyond just the physical aspect. Sports are a metaphor for life. Sports build character, drive, persistence, patience and teach you to effectively deal with all manner of challenges. The "combat" of sports and competition teaches you how to think on the fly and adapt, how to win and lose gracefully, to really put your ass on the line and commit to something you believe in; yourself and your team. You learn how to work with others toward a goal and how to lead and follow and when is the appropriate time for each. You learn how to analyse wins and losses and break them down to improve for the next encounter.

I could go on, ad nauseum, and anyone who knows me, knows in what high regard I hold athletics and competition. So for some person to come along and shit all over what is empirically a wonderful and positive thing - for her to cheat it and cheapen it and make it about money and fame and medals, well I'm happy that it's gonna cost her. Because how history remembers her will be far more lasting and important than anything that happened on that podium in Sydney.

You cheated and now you've lost. Took a while, but you deserve whatever you get.